Book of Hours of Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain

The splendid Book of Hours of Isabella the Catholic represents a true highpoint of Flemish illumination. Between 1500 and 1504, the most famous illuminators of the Ghent-Bruges school furnished the 558 page parchment manuscript with 40 full-page and 10 half-page miniatures, 24 calendar medallions, and more than 300 marginal decorations. The combination of a calendar, a Marian Office, Office of the Dead, the Penitential Psalms, the Litany, and additional prayers is very characteristic of a book of hours.

A Partnership of the Best

The great importance Queen Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504) placed on the precious manuscript as its recipient can be seen in the list of participating artists. At least half of the miniatures can be attributed to the famous painter Alexander Bening (d. 1519), while the others originate from Gerard David (ca. 1460–1523, the Master of the Older Prayer Book of Emperor Maximilian I, the Master of James IV of Scotland and the Master of the Prayer Books ca. 1500.

Enchantingly Decorated Frames and Virtuoso Miniatures

Both the iconographic as well as the decorative apparatus of the miniatures and marginal decoration represent the idyllic landscape in the Flemish style ca. 1500 with its artful blossoms. The various flowers frolic together with butterflies, birds, and writhing acanthus leaves on a colored background. By using the trompe-l'oeil technique, they appear particularly realistic to the viewer.

The Lover of Magnificent Books

It is generally known that Queen Isabella of Castile was a great lover of Flemish art and splendid religious books in particular. She preserved numerous costly manuscripts in her private library in Madrid’s Alcazar. The first page already indicates that this gorgeously furnished book of hours belonged to her collection, which shows both the escutcheon as well as the Queen’s motto together with her and Ferdinand’s emblem.